quote:

Six years after the violent death of her husband, Amelia is at a loss. She struggles to discipline her ‘out of control’ 6 year-old, Samuel, a son she finds impossible to love. Samuel’s dreams are plagued by a monster he believes is coming to kill them both. When a disturbing storybook called ‘The Babadook’ turns up at their house, Samuel is convinced that the Babadook is the creature he’s been dreaming about. His hallucinations spiral out of control, he becomes more unpredictable and violent. Amelia, genuinely frightened by her son’s behaviour, is forced to medicate him. But when Amelia begins to see glimpses of a sinister presence all around her, it slowly dawns on her that the thing Samuel has been warning her about may be real.

The Babadook is a psychological horror film with possibly the scariest pop-up book of all-time in it. It premiered at Sundance in January, and since then has been getting rave reviews with a 95% rating on Metacritic and a 90 on Metacritic. Here's the trailer:

I saw this recently at a festival screening, and while I wasn't as bowled over as critics have been I enjoyed it. It's definitely a creepy movie, and a large part of why it works is because of how amazing the two leads are. Essie Davis just hurls herself into this completely, and Noah Wiseman manages to play an annoying kid without falling on the usual 'creepy kid' tropes. In fact, the movie introduces a lot of possibilities for how things will turn out before quietly subverting them.

Anyway, this is the kind of horror movie that deserves some love outside of the general horror thread because it's much more than an attempt to scare people. Part of why audiences have responded to it so well is because of how the central story is a pretty strong look at loss, grief, and how to move on from tragedy. For those in the States, The Babadook comes out in theatres and VOD on November 28. It's already out in the UK, and according to blu-ray.com it'll be out on DVD/Blu-Ray in Australia on Halloween.

That's part of what makes the movie effective, though. The title sounds silly, until you actually see (or not see, I guess) what you're dealing with.

The pop-up book is a good example of that. It's funny when they start reading it because of the way it's designed (I mean, an evil pop-up book, c'mon). But once they keep reading it gets a lot creepier, and the way they edit this sequence is really well-done.

This sounds so, so good but the title is so, so hard to take seriously.

It's as counterintutive as having a horror movie where the main anagonist is called Pinhead but once you see it, there won't be any way to make the word not sound creepy.

I loved this movie, and I love the recent trend of horror movies using these really drastic but tonal shifts to keep you guessing. Housebound is another horror that does something similar, but unlike that movie Babadook has no humour about it at all.

I hope this movie gets popular enough for someone to make and sell copies of the book.

I have a chance to see this soon, can't wait. I'll have to see it alone because after looking up a trailer the girlfriend is actually too drat scared to go. She hates any horror movie with creepy children in it.

Reviews have been pretty positive, I read an Empire article that put this movie into perspective in a pretty convincing light. The premise reminds me of something Del Toro would do.

I would say it's pretty good - it does a number of things well, i.e. repeated shots with little things changed over time to ratchet tensions and convey time passing, music cues are used in combination with physical actions on screen, Checkov guns which are first pointed out prominently but are then left in shot without attention brought directly to them, unnerving dream-like sequences and the acting of the two main characters are brilliant.

However, I would not say that it is... original; although I couldn't honestly say how on earth one could make a horror film original nowadays. Also, while it tries not to rely on them too much, it does still devolve into jump scares; nowhere near as much as other recent horror films, but they are there.

As to the metaphorical story of the film I would say it's a pretty clear-cut analogy to mental illness brought about by PTSD; sickness as a whole is a theme that goes through the whole film, mental and physical (Amelia works in a dementia ward, she says Sam's out of school because he has a fever, then she says she's off work becasues she's ill, Sam complains of nausea after taking the medicine, etc., etc.).

The Babadook resembles a monsterfied version of Sam when he's dressed as a magician, i.e. the source of the exacerbating stress which enhances the PTSD, when she tries to deny it's there, it 'gains control', but when she accepts it is there, and it isn't going to go away, it becomes managable and not life-threatening, like a lot of mental illness. Heck, even the power of the Babadook is lessened through love; the type of love that is stubborn and supports, instead of talks, like I would say a lot of people with mental illness respond better to (though I am sure there are better qualified people who could correct me on that attitude).

The designers of the book sure put their money's worth out; that was one hell of a pop-out book.

Just got back from a screening tonight. The tone of the film and the atmosphere is really well done. You can tell that the director is a fan of Requiem for a Dream the mum sat in front of the TV and the general unsettling nature of the film is very reminiscent of Requiem. Personally I don't think it relied on jump scares at all, and was actually much more about the atmosphere. I was very impressed that it managed to be emotionally engaging and scary, as opposed to choosing one in favour of the other (i.e. Let the Right One In is emotionally engaging, but not frightening).

My only real complaint would be the tonal shift at the end. Feeding the Babadook bowls of worms in the basement just seemed a bit silly to me, and felt off colour compared to the atmosphere of the rest of the film. Although I think the poster above me is right that if you look at it through the lens of PTSD or grief, it makes a lot more sense. I thought it was going to go one of 3 ways:

1. Mum kills Samuel, as described in the pop up book
2. Samuel kills mum in self-defence
3. Sam and Mum defeat The Babadook, but the social services come back, and everything is such a state that they take Sam away anyway.

The ending totally makes sense, and I appreciate it for what it is, but I also kind of long for something in keeping with the tone of the rest of the film, because that was so well done.

The visual/sound design was spot on as well. The Babadook pop-up book, and colour pallet of the film especially.

Overall I really enjoyed it. Definitely the best horror film I've seen in ages.

Fantastic film, but they lost a big opportunity with the ending, not by making the monster literal, but by weakening it's nature, the soul's inner darkest side. The reveal of them feeding the Babadook safely in their basement is a good image, keeping their darkest wishes at bay, but the whole final shouting match seemed out of a totaly different movie, and that overused roaring special effect LOL
The kid's smile was probably one of the creepiest parts.

I do hace to admit, there were a couple of things that stuck out to me - in the first part of the book, the Babadook is described as potentially being a friend - but I didn't see that in the remainder of the film.

But also, the Babadook having a standard roar from the original X-com game kinda made it less scary.

This was the best "scary poo poo happens in a house" (yes, that's the title I've given the sub-genre) movie of the last decade, at least. It very clearly belongs in the same camp as Insidious, Sinister, The Conjuring, Mama, Oculus, etc. But unlike most of those, this one earns every single scare that it delivers. No cheap jump scares, no over-the-top cgi blob creatures, just tightly-wound intense horror wrapped around a surprisingly adept emotional drama. Good stuff.

Saw this film yesterday and found it hilariously terrible, like laugh out loud funny. I'm not quite sure what happened, maybe it was the company I was with, watching it on demand with a small group of friends probably had a big impact, but I've never been so at odds with the popular opinion of a film.

I went in knowing nothing about the film and have been very surprised to find universal praise from every corner. I feel like everyone watched a different movie to me where the babadook didn't sound like a muppet.
It was enjoyable to watch at least.

One question
Did I miss something with the Robbie character? They introduce him near the start with his nametag in centre frame, and then make sure to clearly state his name in a later scene, and then he seems to completely disappear from the story, did he contribute in some way that I missed? He seemed very conspicuous for a background character.

Proudly serving the Ruinous Powers since as a veteran of the long war.

College Slice

I liked the movie, it's rare to have a horror movie with a consistently excuted but not grating tone these days. Although, I wish the book made another appearance. It was by far the best part of the movie.

I liked the movie, it's rare to have a horror movie with a consistently excuted but not grating tone these days.

I couldn't watch this film, because of that kid. And I feel bad, because it's clearly a great movie, just unrelentingly bleak and full of misery written all over the mom's face.

But gently caress. I can't take even twenty minutes of emotional wrack punctuated by a shrill moppet going MOMMMMEEEEE!! and if the move kept going I was certain the kid would just keep screeching. I'll recommend it to others, but I just can't take movies with kids in them.

This movie was actually disturbing and creepy... until the titular character decided to use the Sectoid Death Scream from X-COM. I know it isn't super fair (generic soundbanks and all) but holy poo poo did it take me out of the movie. And I'm not the kind of guy who actually uses the phrase 'takes me out of the movie'!

Actually think this is probably one the singlest scary films I've seen in a long time and is pretty much like top notch horror , I will definitely be paying attention to this Director because goddamn this movie was brilliant.

It's to my vision a perfect horror film

People have stated the ending doesn't match but if you think about it , it actually does. These emotions that we have love and grief and anger, are all things that are especially hard to deal with when they're all tangled together. I know some say the ending was silly when she just yelled at the monster and that ended it but that wasn't what that was, that was her cathartically letting go. In fact that's a actual real therapy technique. Try it sometime when your angry or emotional, just scream as loud as you can , it's very cathartic. The fact that she keeps feeding it at the end, isn't terrible. The feelings you have they don'tgo away but we can manage them, and that's what she is doing finally managing those feelings toward her son and what happened to her husband.

^ The problem with that, and the problem I have with the ending, is that the ending only works on a subtexual, Babadook-as-symbol-of-grief-or-PSTD level. On a practical level, the movie ends with the protagonist mom-accosting a demon-monster into shamefully crawling into the basement and feeding it worms for the rest of their lives, which is a pretty strong .

The only time that worked, to my memory, is Freddy in his first film. The xenomorph didn't stop hunting you because you understood its rapey undertones. Jason didn't stop hunting you because you realized he was just a dumb scared kid.

And I always heard that catharsis-based therapy has been proven to be not very ideal, because eventually your body conditions the cathartic act with the only way to deal with an emotion. Get angry, punch a bag to release that anger, and eventually your mind only accepts releasing anger via punching.

Saw this film yesterday and found it hilariously terrible, like laugh out loud funny. I'm not quite sure what happened, maybe it was the company I was with, watching it on demand with a small group of friends probably had a big impact, but I've never been so at odds with the popular opinion of a film.

Your case is clearly one of the movie being ruined by your environment. Not to say you'd have definitely liked the movie had you been alone, but by the words you use ("hilariously terrible", etc.), it's clear that you and your friends had the wrong mindset going in. I know because I've been there way too many times. This is why I never think of watching movies as an inherently social activity. Nothing ruins the intended mood of a serious movie more than a group of buddies in the mood to laugh.

I had my first viewing of There Will Be Blood ruined by some chucklefuck who laughed out loud at all sorts of inappropriate moments like HW being deafened. Seeing it again on my own was like watching a different film entirely.

I didn't like Guardians as much as many folks because some obnoxious 20-something dudes in the theater made sure that the whole theater could hear their snarky comments about every scene until ushers kicked them out - ruined the movie experience for me.

Conversely, I liked the new TMNT more than otherwise because the theater was full of young kids saying COOL and YEAH at the right parts, which made me smile.

This is my favourite type of horror movie, and I loved almost every minute of it.

The tension, the depressing lighting, the sound design (except the old computer game dinosaur sound)

My major criticism is that they showed the monster too much, which highlighted how small their budget was. I love when a movie can be genuinely terrifying without ever showing you a monster (Blair Witch, Willow Creek, the first Paranormal Activity). Some movies with a bigger budget can pull it off, like Mama, which by the end of the movie was showing you the monster on screen for minutes at a time, but they had the effects and art budget to keep it looking scary. The Babadook was at its scariest when you could barely make it out in the shadows, not when it was jumping around on the ceiling in plain sight.

And a bonus for me was that it was filmed in Adelaide, South Australia, my home town.

^ The problem with that, and the problem I have with the ending, is that the ending only works on a subtexual, Babadook-as-symbol-of-grief-or-PSTD level. On a practical level, the movie ends with the protagonist mom-accosting a demon-monster into shamefully crawling into the basement and feeding it worms for the rest of their lives, which is a pretty strong .

Nah, this owns and is among my favorite things about the movie. It's weird and grotesque and unsettling, but so is a world where actual literal monsters exist. It has conviction in its metaphor and that makes it far, far stronger than if it tried to tie things off neatly and be a symbol for mental illness at the same time, they way most films would.

(Also, as others have pointed out, thoroughly foreshadowed. You can't get rid of the Babadook.)

I really do love this moive and pretty much consider it to be a perfect half a Rosemary's Baby double feature. While Rosemary's Baby was about the hell that it is to be pregnant and give birth, this is the hell of actually raising a child. It's a movie about loving your child with all your heart but also knowing that if your child was dead your life would be so much better. For a such a hosed up topic the movie approaches it in a silly and whimsical way but that was probably the best choice. Every part of childhood and raising children is surrounded with this air of fairy tales and myth so it's fitting that this aspect should be treated the same way.

I really do love this moive and pretty much consider it to be a perfect half a Rosemary's Baby double feature. While Rosemary's Baby was about the hell that it is to be pregnant and give birth, this is the hell of actually raising a child. It's a movie about loving your child with all your heart but also knowing that if your child was dead your life would be so much better. For a such a hosed up topic the movie approaches it in a silly and whimsical way but that was probably the best choice. Every part of childhood and raising children is surrounded with this air of fairy tales and myth so it's fitting that this aspect should be treated the same way.

I think there's definitely a lightness in the mom/son relationship that is delicately handled in the best way. Anything further and you start to get into We Need To Talk About Kevin territory.

I believe it was the great American painter Bob Ross who said, "The key to a swollen vagina is... courage."

I watched The Babadook on Saturday and weirdly I just felt compelled to pick up Kevin tonight after not having read it since before the movie came out. I didn't connect the why but now that it's been mentioned I must have had that connection in the back of my mind.

I really do love this moive and pretty much consider it to be a perfect half a Rosemary's Baby double feature. While Rosemary's Baby was about the hell that it is to be pregnant and give birth, this is the hell of actually raising a child. It's a movie about loving your child with all your heart but also knowing that if your child was dead your life would be so much better. For a such a hosed up topic the movie approaches it in a silly and whimsical way but that was probably the best choice. Every part of childhood and raising children is surrounded with this air of fairy tales and myth so it's fitting that this aspect should be treated the same way.

I had a similar thought, but I thought a good counterpart would be Eraserhead. If Eraserhead is a nightmare about fatherhood, than the Babadook is a nightmare about motherhood.

This was really strong. I think I'd give the first hour and ten minutes or so an A, with the remainder getting a B-. It did an excellent job of driving the main character's ever-increasing stress and sleep deprivation into you with the jump cuts and the bleary-blue cinematography, respectively. The creeping dread and isolation is nice and slow until you feel just as tense as the main character. All the dream sequences are fantastic as well and lend to the unreality of it all. I feel like it would have benefited more from the Cat People approach if we never actually saw the Babadook. Once the movie went into hard supernatural territory with the Babadook not only being real but possessing the mother, it lost me somewhat. Then you had some other cheesy bits, like the stock dinosaur noise and the fast head shaking stuff, culminating in that sort-of cheesy ending where they basically keep the Babadook as a pet. I would have preferred it more had it stayed in firm psychological territory while keeping the Babadook as a weird element which may or may not exist. The first 3/4 of the movie was all the best parts of Rosemary's Baby or Repulsion. The last 1/4 was all the most hackneyed parts of a mediocre Twilight Zone episode. Still, definitely one of the best horror movies I've seen in a long time. That book

And I give it bonus points for reminding me why I never, ever want to have children

And holy poo poo Essie Davis. I'd never heard of her before this but she was absolutely perfect. I had no problem swapping her with real-life mothers who actually brutally murdered their children.

MeatwadIsGod fucked around with this message at Nov 6, 2014 around 06:41